20230131INT to Staff - Response to No. 58-71.pdf

RESPONSES TO THIRD PRODUCTION REQUEST OF COMMISSION STAFF PAGE 1 OF 3
Preston N. Carter, ISB No. 8462
Morgan D. Goodin, ISB No. 11184
Blake W. Ringer, ISB No. 11223
Givens Pursley LLP
601 W. Bannock St.
Boise, Idaho 83702
Telephone: [phone]
Facsimile: [phone]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

Attorneys for Intermountain Gas Company

BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION OF
INTERMOUNTAIN GAS COMPANY FOR
AUTHORITY TO INCREASE ITS RATES AND
CHARGES FOR NATURAL GAS SERVICE IN
THE STATE OF IDAHO

Case No. INT-G-22-07

INTERMOUNTAIN GAS COMPANY’S
RESPONSES TO THE THIRD PRODUCTION
REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF

Intermountain Gas Company, (“Intermountain,” “Applicant,” or “Company”), in
response to the Third Production Request of the Commission Staff to Intermountain Gas
Company dated January 9, 2023, submits the following responses. Responsive documents are
available for download using the link provided in the accompanying email.

DATED: January 30, 2023.

GIVENS PURSLEY LLP

Preston N. Carter
Attorney for Intermountain Gas Company

RECEIVED
Monday, January 30, 2023 3:44:34 PM
IDAHO PUBLIC
UTILITIES COMMISSION
RESPONSES TO THIRD PRODUCTION REQUEST OF COMMISSION STAFF PAGE 2 OF 3
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I certify that on January 30, 2023, a true and correct copy of the foregoing was served
upon all parties of record in this proceeding via electronic mail as indicated below:

Commission Staff Via Electronic Mail
Jan Noriyuki, Commission Secretary
Idaho Public Utilities Commission
11331 W. Chinden Blvd., Bldg. 8, Suite 201-A
Boise, ID 83714

[e-mail]
Dayn Hardie
Deputy Attorney General
Idaho Public Utilities Commission
11331 W. Chinden Blvd., Bldg. 8, Suite 201-A
Boise, ID 83714
[e-mail]

Chad M. Stokes
Cable Huston LLP
1455 SW Broadway, Ste. 1500
Portland, OR 97201
Attorneys for Alliance of Western Energy
Consumers
[e-mail]

Marie Callaway Kellner
710 N. 6th Street
Boise, ID 83702
Attorneys for Idaho Conservation League
[e-mail]

Brad Heusinkveld
Idaho Conservation League, Energy Assoc.
710 N. 6th Street
Boise, ID 83702
[e-mail]

Darrell Early
Ed Jewell
Deputy City Attorney
Boise City Attorney’s Office
150 N. Capitol Blvd.
PO Box 500
Boise, ID 83701-0500
[e-mail]
[e-mail]
[e-mail]

RESPONSES TO THIRD PRODUCTION REQUEST OF COMMISSION STAFF PAGE 3 OF 3

Wil Gehl
Energy Program Manager
Boise City Dept. of Public Works
150 N. Capitol Blvd.
PO Box 500
Boise, ID 83701-0500
[e-mail]

Preston N. Carter

INTERMOUNTAIN GAS COMPANY
CASE INT-G-22-07
THIRD PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF
Preparer/Sponsoring Witness: Carmen Goicoechea/Lori Blattner
REQUEST NO. 58:
Please describe the self-help options that are available to customers using the Company's
Interactive Voice Response system. Please provide the utilization rate for each available option
for the past three years (2020, 2021 and 2022).
RESPONSE NO. 58:
The Company’s Interactive Voice Response (“IVR”) system Self Service Options top
menu includes the following options: account balance, last payment amount/date, get mailing
address for payments, get our web address to make free payments and other services online, and
transfer to our Energy Efficiency group. We do not collect data on these selections. Call data is
collected once the call enters one of the Customer Service Queues listed below. Utilization rates
for the options that route calls to an agent are as follows:
2020 2021 2022
Report an Emergency - Including Gas Leaks 3.75% 3.40% 3.80%
Start or Stop Service 48.88% 48.78% 43.52%
Create a Pay Plan 18.49% 22.44% 20.60%
Callback Option 5.91% 2.92% 11.03%
Other 22.97% 22.46% 21.05%
INT-G-22-07
IPUC DR 58
Page 1 of 1
INTERMOUNTAIN GAS COMPANY
CASE INT-G-22-07
THIRD PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF
Preparer/Sponsoring Witness: Carmen Goicoechea/Lori Blattner
REQUEST NO. 59:
Please describe the self-help options that are available to customers using the Company’s
website. For each of the past three years (2020, 2021, and 2022), please provide the utilization
rate for each available option and the percentage of Idaho customers that have established an
online account?
RESPONSE NO. 59:
Please see features below on the Customer Web Application. Unique log entries have
been provided for each year for each feature. Some stats are not available as we purge those web
logs from the database after 12 months.
Feature 2020 2021 2022 2020 2021 2022
Total
Customers 384,625 395,778 406,806
% of
customers
% of
customers
% of
customers
New
Enrollments 50,321 51,172 51,986 13.08% 12.93% 12.78%
Total Web
Enrollments 231,082 239,545 248,584 60.08% 60.53% 61.11%
AutoPay Add 72,584 74,745 75,501 18.87% 18.89% 18.56%
AutoPay
Remove 8,522 7,547 9,217 2.22% 1.91% 2.27%
AutoPay
Update 11,955 12,801 14,564 3.11% 3.23% 3.58%
One-time
Payment 2,307,576 2,426,164 2,452,946
Cancel one-
time Payment 6,250 5,261 6,121 1.62% 1.33% 1.50%
Bill Routing
Update
(electronic bill
or paper)128,646 31.62%
INT-G-22-07
IPUC DR 59
Page 1 of 3
Enroll in Level
Pay 12,310 10,642 3.20% 2.69%
Create a
Payment Plan 13,858 11,414 16,731 3.60% 2.88% 13.01%
Report a
Payment 1,440 1,371 1,603 0.37% 0.35% 0.39%
View
Statement
View
Brochures/Inse
rts
Payment
History
Usage History
Start Service 6,525 1.60%
Transfer
Service 3,776 0.93%
Stop Service 22,405 5.51%
Letter of
Credit 1,918 0.47%
Statement
Analysis
Statement of
Account
Update
Customer Info
(home phone,
cell phone,
work phone,
employer)35,117 8.63%
Add Co-
customer
Update Co-
customer Info
(home phone,
cell phone,
work phone,
employer)7,003 1.72%
Change
Mailing
Address 8,706 2.14%
INT-G-22-07
IPUC DR 59
Page 2 of 3
Update
Emergency
Contact
Update Email
Address
Opt-in/out to
Email
Notifications
(account,
outage,
company
news, energy
efficiency)108,996 26.79%
Opt-in/out
(account,
outage)101,961 25.06%
Update Web
Username 41,964 43,739 40,204 10.91% 11.05% 9.88%
Update Web
Password 17,082 4.20%
Contact Us
Survey/Feedba
ck
Chat 7,452 7,663 5,523 1.94% 1.94% 1.36%
INT-G-22-07
IPUC DR 59
Page 3 of 3
INTERMOUNTAIN GAS COMPANY
CASE INT-G-22-07
THIRD PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF
Preparer/Sponsoring Witness: Dan Tillis/Lori Blattner
REQUEST NO. 60:
Please provide the Company’s performance objectives for handling incoming calls.
RESPONSE NO. 60:
Intermountain Gas Company’s objective for handling incoming calls is to answer 80% of
calls offered within 60 seconds.
INT-G-22-07
IPUC DR 60
Page 1 of 1
INTERMOUNTAIN GAS COMPANY
CASE INT-G-22-07
THIRD PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF
Preparer/Sponsoring Witness: Dan Tillis/Lori Blattner
REQUEST NO. 61:
What steps does the Company take if it fails to meet its performance objectives?
RESPONSE NO. 61:
If the Company fails to meet the performance objective of answering 80% of calls offered
within 60 seconds, it takes the following steps:
1.Review 30-minute intervals to determine if overtime or shift changes are necessary.
2.Adjust shifts and request voluntary overtime as needed based on interval reports and
current call volume.
3.Review employee performance to improve deficiencies in attendance, availability,
and efficiency to increase individual calls handled.
4.Utilize resources from other departments within the Customer Experience Team –
e.g., Customer Support, Credit & Collections, etc.
5.Review staffing levels to determine if the Company needs to hire additional Customer
Service Representatives.
6.Assess employee churn to determine what actions the company can take to retain
current employees – e.g., increase pay, offer more flexibility, etc.
7.Assess call types to identify opportunities to shift incoming calls to IVR or Web self-
service.
INT-G-22-07
IPUC DR 61
Page 1 of 1
INTERMOUNTAIN GAS COMPANY
CASE INT-G-22-07
THIRD PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF
Preparer/Sponsoring Witness: Carmen Goicoechea/Lori Blattner
REQUEST NO. 62:
Please provide the number of incoming calls handled by the customer service call center
by month for each of the past three years (2020, 2021 and 2022).
RESPONSE NO. 62:
The Number of incoming calls handled by the customer service call center are as follows:
Month 2020 2021 2022
Jan 31,402 34,699 29,176
Feb 37,300 33,855 19,191
Mar 28,291 44,910 24,384
Apr 21,658 36,334 20,628
May 22,520 31,602 20,798
Jun 28,585 32,234 21,841
Jul 29,952 30,318 19,908
Aug 28,174 30,368 23,558
Sep 30,053 29,829 21,130
Oct 34,163 32,206 21,885
Nov 28,375 29,787 20,632
Dec 32,826 29,689 20,523
INT-G-22-07
IPUC DR 62
Page 1 of 1
INTERMOUNTAIN GAS COMPANY
CASE INT-G-22-07
THIRD PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF
Preparer/Sponsoring Witness: Carmen Goicoechea/Lori Blattner
REQUEST NO. 63:
Please provide the number of abandoned calls to the customer service call center by
month for each of the past three years (2020, 2021 and 2022). “Abandoned calls” are calls that
reach the Company’s incoming telephone system, but the calling party terminates the call before
speaking with a customer service representative.
RESPONSE NO. 63:
The number of abandoned calls are as follows:
Month 2020 2021 2022
Jan 1,598 3,391 11,606
Feb 1,009 1,691 9,319
Mar 921 3,186 11,407
Apr 414 1,871 8,746
May 506 1,829 5,027
Jun 1,028 2,728 2,784
Jul 1,226 2,328 2,051
Aug 2,139 1,885 3,209
Sep 4,867 2,616 1,637
Oct 15,688 4,706 4,605
Nov 7,130 5,751 3,387
Dec 4,151 6,984 4,667
INT-G-22-07
IPUC DR 63
Page 1 of 1
INTERMOUNTAIN GAS COMPANY
CASE INT-G-22-07
THIRD PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF
Preparer/Sponsoring Witness: Carmen Goicoechea/Lori Blattner
REQUEST NO. 64:
Please provide the average speed of answer for the customer service call center by month
for each of the past three years (2020, 2021, and 2022). “Average speed of answer” is the
interval (typically measured in seconds) between when a call reaches the Company’s incoming
telephone system and when the call is picked up by a customer service representative.
RESPONSE NO. 64:
The average speed of answer is as follows:
Month 2020 2021 2022
Jan 0:00:35 0:01:20 0:10:05
Feb 0:00:16 0:00:28 0:07:55
Mar 0:00:17 0:00:53 0:07:55
Apr 0:00:04 0:00:37 0:06:58
May 0:00:06 0:00:46 0:03:33
Jun 0:00:18 0:01:27 0:01:28
Jul 0:00:24 0:01:15 0:01:10
Aug 0:01:01 0:00:58 0:01:37
Sep 0:02:57 0:01:37 0:00:35
Oct 0:10:21 0:03:01 0:02:16
Nov 0:04:45 0:04:40 0:01:15
Dec 0:02:06 0:05:11 0:01:37
INT-G-22-07
IPUC DR 64
Page 1 of 1
INTERMOUNTAIN GAS COMPANY
CASE INT-G-22-07
THIRD PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF
Preparer/Sponsoring Witness: Carmen Goicoechea/Lori Blattner
REQUEST NO. 65:
Please provide the service level for the customer service call center by month for each of
the past three years (2020, 2021 and 2022). “Service level” is the percentage of calls answered
within a certain number of seconds, e.g., 80% of calls answered within 20 seconds.
RESPONSE NO. 65:
The service level for the customer service call center is as follows:
Month 2020 2021 2022
Jan 87.37%80.44%74.09%
Feb 93.85%88.42%72.10%
Mar 92.64%83.09%70.34%
Apr 99.19%86.86%71.36%
May 98.29%81.84%72.65%
Jun 92.80%74.46%81.43%
Jul 90.50%78.10%84.54%
Aug 79.84%81.82%84.50%
Sep 64.58%68.33%90.28%
Oct 61.42%64.05%74.22%
Nov 69.46%58.38%86.20%
Dec 72.23%56.87%87.05%
INT-G-22-07
IPUC DR 65
Page 1 of 1
INTERMOUNTAIN GAS COMPANY
CASE INT-G-22-07
THIRD PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF
Preparer/Sponsoring Witness: Carmen Goicoechea/Lori Blattner
REQUEST NO. 66:
Please provide the average number of busy signals reached by parties calling the
customer service call center by month for each of the past three years (2020, 2021 and 2022).
RESPONSE NO. 66:
Currently there is not a way to capture busy signal data as the call would not have
reached the Company’s servers. In order to prevent the occurrence of busy signals, the Company
converted from a limited primary rate interface that could handle up to approximately 161
inbound calls, to a session initiation protocol service that handles 251 inbound sessions.
INT-G-22-07
IPUC DR 66
Page 1 of 1
INTERMOUNTAIN GAS COMPANY
CASE INT-G-22-07
THIRD PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF
Preparer/Sponsoring Witness: Dan Tillis/Lori Blattner
REQUEST NO. 67:
Please provide the average response time for e-,mail transactions by month for each of
the past three years (2020, 2021 and 2022). “Average response time” is the average number of
hours from receipt of an e-mail by the Company to sending a substantive response; auto-response
acknowledgements do not count as a substantive response.
RESPONSE NO. 67:
The Company’s email system does not provide email response time data. The Customer
Experience Team (“CXT”) prioritizes emails from customers who submit their email inquiry
through one of our online portals. While the Company does not know the exact email response
time, the CXT generally responds sooner than the 2-business day expectation set for customers
in the generic auto-response sent when an email inquiry is submitted.
INT-G-22-07
IPUC DR 67
Page 1 of 1
INTERMOUNTAIN GAS COMPANY
CASE INT-G-22-07
THIRD PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF
Preparer/Sponsoring Witness: Carmen Goicoechea/Lori Blattner
REQUEST NO. 68:
Please provide the average handling time by month for each of the past three years (2020,
2021 and 2022). “Average handling time” is the average amount of time (usually expressed in
minutes) it takes for a customer service representative to talk with a customer plus any additional
“off-line” time it takes to complete the transaction or fully resolve the customer’s issue(s).
RESPONSE NO. 68:
The average handling time by month is as follows:
Month 2020 2021 2022
Jan 0:08:18 0:08:50
Feb 0:08:15 0:08:51
Mar 0:08:18 0:08:58
Apr 0:08:40 0:09:13
May 0:08:47 0:09:05
Jun 0:08:48 0:09:13
Jul 0:09:10 0:09:08
Aug 0:09:20 0:09:35
Sep 0:09:10 0:09:22
Oct 0:09:30 0:09:38
Nov 0:08:46 0:09:20 0:09:10
Dec 0:08:47 0:09:06 0:08:44
Data prior to November 2020 has been purged from the data server.
INT-G-22-07
IPUC DR 68
Page 1 of 1
INTERMOUNTAIN GAS COMPANY
CASE INT-G-22-07
THIRD PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF
Preparer/Sponsoring Witness: Carmen Goicoechea/Lori Blattner
REQUEST NO. 69:
Please provide the first call resolution rate by month for each of the past three years
(2020, 2021 and 2022). “First call resolution rate is the percentage of calls where the transaction,
inquiry or complaint is resolved upon initial contact with the Company.
RESPONSE NO. 69:
Intermountain Gas Company does not track First Call Resolution (“FCR”) in the manner
described in this request. However, the Company does have a post-call survey process that allows
customers to remain on the line to answer three Customer Satisfaction questions. One of those
questions asks how many times the customer needed to contact the company to have their inquiry
or issue resolved. Part of the call flow process for the Customer Service Representatives is to
advise customers of the survey and encourage them to remain on the line to complete the survey.
The survey completion rate and FCR rate from that data for the past three years is listed below.
The FCR Rate is the percentage of time customers selected “one” for their answer to the FCR
question.
INT-G-22-07
IPUC DR 69
Page 1 of 2
Month
%
Handled
Calls
Surveye
d - 2020 FCR Rate - 2020
%
Handled
Calls
Surveye
d - 2021
FCR Rate -
2021
%
Handled
Calls
Surveyed
- 2022
FCR
Rate -
2022
Jan 2.5% 73.0% 2.3% 73.0% 8.9% 75.0%
Feb 2.0% 75.0% 2.2% 76.0% 14.4% 75.0%
Mar 2.8% 73.0% 2.1% 76.0% 14.0% 76.0%
Apr 2.2% 71.0% 2.4% 73.0% 14.4% 77.0%
May 1.9% 75.0% 2.4% 75.0% 19.9% 79.0%
Jun 1.8% 76.0% 5.9% 80.0% 22.3% 79.0%
Jul 0.5% 79.0% 10.2% 79.0% 22.0% 80.0%
Aug 1.8% 75.0% 11.4% 79.0% 21.9% 77.0%
Sep 2.1% 72.0% 7.2% 78.0% 22.3% 78.0%
Oct 1.5% 65.0% 9.9% 76.0% 21.0% 75.0%
Nov 2.0% 71.0% 8.5% 78.0% 18.8% 76.0%
Dec 2.3% 71.0% 8.8% 77.0% 17.1% 77.0%
INT-G-22-07
IPUC DR 69
Page 2 of 2
INTERMOUNTAIN GAS COMPANY
CASE INT-G-22-07
THIRD PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF
Preparer/Sponsoring Witness: Josh Sanders/Patrick
Darras
REQUEST NO. 70:
Please provide an update on each Action Item listed in the Stipulation and Settlement
approved in the Commission Order No. 35492 in Case No. INT-G-22-01. If any Action Item has
not been completed, please explain why.
RESPONSE NO. 70:
Intermountain Gas Company has completed all agreed terms in accordance with the
settlement agreement related to Order No.35492. The Company’s last requirement was
implemented prior to 12/31/22. The Company’s most recent required quarterly update of
progress was submitted to Commission Staff on 1/9/2023. The Company continues to perform
quarterly audits of work completions by its Service Technicians to ensure work is being
completed by individuals who have documented qualifications. Results have continually
improved since the Company began auditing with the most recent audit submitted on 1/10/2023
having zero issues to report out of 38,980 work completions.
INT-G-22-07
IPUC DR 70
Page 1 of 1
INTERMOUNTAIN GAS COMPANY
CASE INT-G-22-07
THIRD PRODUCTION REQUEST OF THE COMMISSION STAFF
Preparer/Sponsoring Witness: Josh Sanders/Patrick
Darras
REQUEST NO. 71:
Please provide all documents and reports related to all safety audits performed on the
Company from 2017 to present date.
RESPONSE NO. 71:
Due to the voluminous nature of the request, the data requested will be provided for
inspection on-site at the Company’s offices.
INT-G-22-07
IPUC DR 71
Page 1 of 1